Whew, it's been too long since I blogged! Now I feel obligated to give you every excruciating detail of what we've been up to lately! Just kidding. :-) I'll try to summarize the highlights of the move to our new house...but those who know me know it will be difficult to keep this short!
The last time I blogged I wrote about the 10K I ran on May 27. After I showered and rested, I was at the new house cleaning what I could while Ted and the kids went to pick up Joel and Sarah from the airport. How convenient to have family visit us during a week of transition! They had made their travel plans long before we knew we were moving, but they were such great sports and helped us tremendously during the time they were here.
We were so grateful that the owner let us get the keys on May 26 so we could begin moving stuff over without having to pay rent until June 1. You wouldn't believe how much stuff can actually fit in a mini-van with all the seats taken out! It was amazing how much we were able to do on our own. Our friends the B family came over the night we got the keys and helped us bring a big load over. It was fun to show them the new house, since they had been praying with us about the whole situation from the beginning.
Over the next week, we continued to make trips back and forth, boxing and unboxing so we could then reuse the boxes! It was actually kind of nice to do it on our own, so that we could put stuff in its proper place before another load came. Obviously it didn't all get put away right at once, but let me tell you, it's so nice to see bookshelves with all the books neatly lined up on them as you're bringing in another load instead of having EVERY LAST EARTHLY POSSESSION dumped in the middle of a new home all in one day!! That is what moving is normally like for us!
We made Sunday (May 28) a day of rest, with all 7 of us in the house taking naps. Monday morning Joel and Sarah helped entertain the kids while Ted and I made some trips back and forth. Then Joel and Sarah left for the Strip to spend the night for their 2nd anniversary. I had an all-day home school leadership meeting on Wednesday, during which there was child care, so the kids and I were out of the way while Ted, Joel, and Sarah pretty much moved our entire family room to the new house.
Wednesday evening Ted and the kids took Joel and Sarah to the airport while I went to the new house to work. Ted called to tell me that on the way back one of the tires blew out, so he had had to put the spare on while parked precariously on a narrow shoulder on a busy stretch of the highway. The kids were frantic, and a very stressed out Ted came home that night still shaking from the adrenaline rush. He was so frustrated to have to take time the next morning to get new tires--we ended up having to get all 4 new ones, as another tire was on the verge of blowing out and the other 2 had 6-8 months tops left on them. Since we're traveling to Idaho soon, we decided it would be best to replace them sooner rather than later.
Friday, June 2, was our first night in the new house. Saturday morning several men came to help Ted with moving the big stuff. We spent the rest of the weekend cleaning the house, taking the random leftover stuff to the new house and scrubbing everything down to pass inspection on the 5th. Sarah (my running partner Sarah, not sis-in-law) spent a couple of hours scrubbing with me on Saturday, and a friend from church brought us a meal Sunday night. Another friend and neighbor watched the kids for us for several hours on Sunday so we could finish cleaning. God sent just the right people at just the right time to help, and we are SOOO grateful for all the helping hands (and the prayers) that lifted us up and encouraged us during this transition.
We are now mostly settled into our new home. The kids still occasionally ask when we're leaving a place to come back home if we're going to the "new house or the old house." Soon enough I guess they'll realize that this is home! They love it here, and so do I. I've joked that Ted will have to drag me from this house kicking and screaming--it truly is a dream come true. We don't have any pictures yet, but I'll see if I can get some shots to show how spacious everything is. We pray that God will bring us opportunities to bless others through this house somehow, whether it be housing guests or serving meals.
Guess I'll close this post for now. Thanks to all for your prayers! God truly answered, from allowing us early access to the house to providing gift cards to Home Depot (from the owner) to purchase window treatments and a garage door opening system (we're told he's going to send us another gift card for that!). God is so good!
